Blogger: one great feature, email the blog to publish a post

Blogger, owned by Google, is the blogging platform we use for this blog. One reason we chose it is that blogger is very simple and easy to modify. There is just one configuration page to work with.

One of my favorite options, and this may not be unique to blogger, is being able to publish a blog post by sending an email to the blog. That's how I'm creating this post.

Each blog has a unique email address only known by the administrators.  The email feature under settings allows you to immediately publish the post from a new email it receives or save emails as drafts. Both have worked for me.

So if we're traveling, for example, and can't get to a laptop easily to post to the blog, we can send email to the blog and have them immediately published or have them wait for review and tweeking later.

Another use of the email feature, also known as mail2post, is that you can give that email address out to those folk you would like to contribute to your blog. And you can always rework or delete blog posts after they're published when needed.

I'm still testing this feature so let's test an in-line photo. Here's a friend I ran into on my bike ride to work today.

And publish... Let me know if it works ;)

Bert

A busy week with Crazy Cousins at the 2018 Minten Family Reunion

Living out in the middle of the northern Chihuahuan desert, we don't have many opportunities to do the things one would easily do in a more populated area.  So, when the truck AC breaks, or we need clothes, or a laptop starts acting up, eventually you make a trip to a 'big city' to get some of those things taken care of.  In this case, we had a laundry list of things that needed to be done that accumulated over the past 3 months and a Minten family reunion to attend.

So, with a lot to accomplish before our family reunion, we left Big Bend a day early and headed to Austin with our To Dos and dreams of dinner at Vivo, our fav Austin restaurant for great Mexican Food and Mexican Martinis, and fun times with cousins at our 2018 Rio Frio reunion at Garner State Park!

Green Enchiladas, extra hot green sauce and a Mexican Martini, Tex Mex Heaven at Vivo

Our list looked something like the one below, and we had 2 days to get it done, without the truck because it was on the list to get fixed. So we planned on using UBER or Car to Go to get around.

• Stop by PO Box for snail mail, Get truck brakes and AC fixed at Covert (priority), Drive a new 2019 1500 if possible (I'm saving for a new truck!!), Go by the Microsoft store to get both Surface laptops looked at (priority), 
• Restock reunion storage bins with cookware, serving dishes, spoons and plastic dishes, Finish reunion food shopping, Buy some booze, Get new clothes and swimwear at Old Navy (we had coupons we needed to use), 
• Meet friends at Bout Time 2 for drinks, Meet Lupe's parents for lunch, Make SURE we eat at Vivo and Torchy's at least once each, 
• Take Yvonne and Adrian to dinner to get caught up, Work on re-potting plants at Yvonne's (an on-going project) and if there was still time, 
• Look for a new mountain bike for Lupe and See a movie at Alamo Drafthouse!
 

So, off we went into Austin's hectic pace and after 9 hours and 500 miles, traveling through Fort Stockton, Fredericksburg and Dripping Springs we got to our hometown, then to Vivo and on to Yvonne's house for our short stay.

After a rushed two days we did get most of the things on our list done before heading to Garner State Park, with a BIG thanks to Yvonne for lending us 'the Hamster', her Honda Civic Hybrid, for 2 days.

With the truck half fixed, the brakes got done but the AC fan needed to be ordered so that would be fixed Monday after we get back, we headed to Garner State Park stopping for final food along the way.  We were excited to see cousins and close family and spend some time getting caught-up.

Of course, the way family reunions work, we all have lists of things we need to do and bring.  For example, there was a potluck lunch the first day so we would need to get all our food ready and igloo-ed for the weekend.  After all the prep work, we got the keys and moved in Friday morning.

Shady Meadows Dining Hall was an empty room with lots of tables before we got started with an ample kitchen for food prep and cooking.

And after getting everything in, it was just nice to chill, hang out at the bar and start catching up.

Some of us got to swim in the Rio Frio and (at night) jumped off the Big Rock..What fun that was. Note: many of the photos in this post were taken by cousin Jennifer Strawn, like this one. You can find her work here: www.jmstrawnphotography.com Thanks Jennifer for letting me use them!!

We got a visit from a group of inquisitive, wild turkeys who seemed to be very comfortable with people all around them.  State parks are great at bringing the wild right to your doorstep.

And there was lots of visiting time and a few antics from Cousin Randy ;)

Where he gave us all a lesson on how to shave your head if you really needed to. I don't think Adrian was impressed.  🙈

Friday evening Dinner at Michelle's cabin

After a fun afternoon hanging out, visiting and catching up, we wrapped up at the Dining Hall and headed over to the cabin where cousin Michelle, Aunt Rosalie, Jennifer, and Steve were staying to have dinner and do more visiting.

Saturday Afternoon BBQ

We had lots planned for Saturday, day 2 of the reunion, including a lunch BBQ and the (now famous) annual Minten Reunion Auction.  We started with a wonderful breakfast made by Michelle and Rosalie, Devin and Kurtis cooked the BBQ, Tanya helped prep food and Leona worked on her quilt while Michelle, Riley and big sister Hailey looked on.

Auction Table

Auction items were donated by many family members.  Jennifer donated a piece of her own art, Laura donated handmade 2018 Minten Reunion T-shirts, koozies, Beer Steins, and bags, Lupe donated a set of beer glasses from the Auslander restaurant, Bert donated a Big Bend Hiking & Travel package, Michelle donated framed Minten family photos, Leona donated Falfurrias and Garner state park T-shirts and Kurtis donated champaign and white wine.

The family truly appreciates what everyone creates, donates and then buys for this new annual event!!

With the help of cousin Kurtis as auctioneer, we were able to raise almost $700 this year towards future reunion costs from the auction and additional donations. Thanks Kurtis for the humor and fun you bring to our reunions!

Wrapping up day 2 at the dining hall, we got playful for our group photo.

2018 Minten Family Reunion group photo

Thanks, Jennifer for being our official photographer!  The photo really expresses the fun we all had this year. Oh wait, how did you get in the picture??  LOL Thanks, Jennifer.

So we said goodbye to the Shady Meadows dining Hall and the turkeys for this year.

During the reunion, a group of us discussed where we should go for next year's reunion.  We agreed that for 2019 the reunion we'll go back to Port Aransas, again in a large common house, and for 2020 we will come back to the Garner State Park/Neal's Lodges area.  Neal's Lodges has a Conference Room (see cabin 35 above) and we hope to get that as our group facility in 2020.  Fingers Crossed.

So, we all headed back to our Cabins and Condos to chill out for the last evening.  Heather, Jeremy, Mac, and Emery joined us at Randy's condo pool for a relaxing swim.  A little later a lot more family showed up to join the fun.

Sunday Brunch at Neal's and then fishing!

We wrapped up the 2018 Minten Family reunion at Neal's diner for brunch with as many as could make it, and right after that Kurtis and the boys went fishing at Neal's pond.

Group photo on Neal's porch

It was a great ending to our Reunion weekend and one more chance for a family photo.

And finally here's my video of the weekend.  

Cheers from Torchy's Tacos 

More kayaking from the Hot springs Historic Area

Lupe didn't get enough kayaking on his trip two weeks ago (AusTexGuys Blog: Our first adventure with the new Kayak on the Rio), so this week he was on the Rio Grande again kayaking a little further away, putting in at the Hot Springs Historic Area.

On the way to Hot Springs put-in

The drive from Rio Grande village (RGV), where he would get out, to the historic hot springs area is about 3 miles. So we thought this would be a better test of the new inflatable kayak and his skills.

The first run was from the RGV Daniel's ranch area to the RGV boat launch which was only a mile.

Headed to Daniels Ranch put-in on the Rio Grande, from the first trip

This attempt was 3 or more miles from the Hot springs to Daniel's ranch.

Where Lupe put-in

Getting Started

kayaking by the Hot Springs.

And getting ready to hit the 'rapids', where he lost his glasses :(

The trip was very successful with a lesson learned.  Lupe got back, sans his glasses, but was happy to make it through hot springs canyon and see some wildlife too. Here's the entire photo album.

See the local 'wildlife'? 

One side of Hot Springs Canyon

Family trip to Hereford and Friona, Texas

We received a call from Lupe's parents that one of his great Aunts, one of the women that raised his mother, was very sick and had been moved to hospice care.  After discussing for a moment, we decided to make the trip to Hereford, what is his parent's hometown in the panhandle of Texas. We went to be part of the family gathering for Tia Maria.

Hereford is named for cattle.  According to Wikipedia, Hereford IS the Beef Capital of the World! There are literally thousands of cattle in stockyards, or cattle yards, being 'beefed' up before slaughter. A combination of molasses, hay, milo, and wheat are fed to the cattle as they are kept in small fenced areas so they won't expend much energy.   All roads leading into Hereford have these cattle yards, according to a family member.  So, Hereford smells like cow poop, all the time and everywhere.  You can escape it. That's Hereford.

Family time was wonderful and I (Bert) got to meet many new cousins, another Great Aunt, and other members of Lupe's family.  A highlight of the evening at Tia Maria's home was the Mariachis.  They played for an hour in her living room where she was bundled up in her bed resting, surrounded by the people that loved her the most in the world.  It was a touching and inspiring time with family, experiencing together how life can be celebrated in a joyful, musical way.

During our 3 days there we did get to visit other places in the area.  One was a trip out to see the farm Lupe's father worked on for many years, called the family farm.  The trip wound up being a wild goose chase, venturing around and through many farms that looked that same and like the family farm, and a cell tower, none of which help find the actual 'family farm' :)

So, we moved on to another city trip to visit 'El Campo' in Hereford and to see the Church were Lupe's mother went to school. El Campo is like the La Calonias in South Texas, a place where many Mexican families first move when they arrive in the US.

Our last trip was to visit the grave sites of two of Lupe's family members.  In Friona, his father's father and brother are buried.  We visited those graves, tracking them down using the cemetery's  (very useful) plot map.

Lupe has decided to raise funds with a gofundme to get gravestones put in place for both of these men. We left flowers on the graves.

It was a wonderful trip, even though the reason was not what we would have chosen, to see where Lupe's family spent many years, meet new family and spend special time together celebrating Tia Maria's life. Here's a link to the photo album.

I want to start a Blog But someone ask why not just use Facebook? So here are my reasons

Someone ask so here goes.  Why stop Facebook, it's so much easier. Just create an album, download and upload your photos?

Here are my reasons for removing my content from Facebook, in order of importance...

1. Well, it's not just about photos. For me, it's also about this space being mine, under my control.

2. Using Blogger, owned by Google, it's actually easier to create and share photo albums from Google photos. Both my phones upload to, guess what, Google photos.

3. Have I mentioned privacy yet? Does anyone remember the last presidential election, the involvement of Cambridge Analytica and theft of 87 MILLION user profiles used to influence that election? The first time it happens, shame on you (Facebook), the second time it happens shame on me.

4. Ultimate control of look and feel. a blog or website is configurable, personalized and not someone else's view of how it should look. It's like renting a room in someone else's house. They pick the paint colors, the doors, mow the lawn or not, etc. You get the idea.

5. My patterns, selections, choices, political views, and preferences are not being tracked, monitored and recorded to sell me something, try to change my political position or viewpoint. Or to sell [my content] to someone else to do the same..

6. This is a permanent place for me to describe and annotate our lives to friends. Facebook is owned and can change any of the rules anytime. 

7. I get to control access, completely, no questions. No misunderstandings, like when Facebook-approved apps are built and allowed to pull my Facebook profile details and/or content.

8. I can move anytime. There are multiple, free blog and website builders. If things change on Blogger, WordPress, Wix, Google sites, etc, I can take my stuff and leave. And nobody has a copy of it.

9. The noise is deafening and I'm suppressed on Facebook. This is probably my number one driver to leave. Facebook is like one of the old party line phones. You pick up and everyone is talking, nobody is listening. And REALLY no one cares. Admit it. We all just want to scream out our opinions.

10. I have a choice.

Exploring Blogger a Disclaimer

After some deliberation, we decided to go with Blogger for our Blog.  Not knowing what problems or limits it may present, we like blogger because it is owned by Google and we have access to Blogger training with https://geeksontour.com/.

So, we went for it and are posting regularly, adding Gadgets and exploring new and better options, templates, layout options, etc as we go.  So, the blog may blow up, break, not email you or just not be there until we get it all smoothed out.

Not knowing how long that will take, please have patience with us as we explore Blogging!!

Having fun, AusTexGuys, Bert and Lupe.

disclaimer def.: a statement that denies something, especially responsibility :)